Unit completion requirements

To pass this subject you must achieve all of the following:

• Receive a final overall mark of >50%
• Miss no more than one practical (without approval). Don’t go home unless you have signed off at a practical
• Submit all assignments (excluding quizzes)

Assignment extensions and penalties

5% of the mark allocated for any assignment will be deducted for every 24 h period (or part thereof) that any work is submitted past the nominated deadline.

Assignment 1: poster

You will prepare a scientific poster based on research and data from one of your practicals. You will conduct original research in which you will test an hypothesis or answer a research question by designing a behavioural experiment in the practical. The results of this study will be communicated in an electronic poster (we will not print them). This assignment draws on research and communication skills that you will develop in this course.

Assignment 2: research report

You will conduct a series of behavioural experiments on sugar ants over the course of two practicals. You will determine the questions or hypotheses you wish to address based on the background information you are given, and any pilot studies you conduct. The results will be written as a short scientific paper in which you will present the analyses of your data and place it in the context of general animal behaviour theory.

Unit outline, lecture and practical materials and course notices will be distributed via iLearn.

http://ilearn.mq.edu.au

iLearn is a web-based computer mediated communication package and can be accessed by most web browsers from inside or outside the University. iLearn and email will be the principle method of communication in this subject.

You must use iLearn for:

• Regularly checking subject announcements—particularly with regard to the pracs and class readings;
• Downloading course materials;
• Downloading some of the reference material;
• Using the discussion board.

The URL for the iLearn log-in page is: http://ilearn.mq.edu.au/. You will need to log in to iLearn each time you use it. If you are having trouble accessing your online unit due to a disability or health condition, please go to the Student Services Website at http://students.mq.edu.au/support/health_and_wellbeing/disability_service/services_available/ for information on how to get assistance. If you are having problems logging on and you cannot log in after ensuring you have entered your username and password correctly, you should contact Student IT Help, Phone: (02) 9850 4357 (in Sydney) or 1 800 063 191 (outside Sydney).

Textbook

You can certainly survive this course without a textbook. However, if you wish to get the most out of the course and really use the opportunity to learn something about animal behaviour, I recommend buying Animal Behaviour (11^th ed.) by Dustin Rubenstein and John Alcock, available at the Co-op bookshop on campus. There are also copies in the library that you can consult. And note that earlier editions (e.g. 10^th ed.) are only by Alcock. There are many other animal behaviour books that will also be useful for this course. There are also likely to be plenty of second-hand copies for purchase online (of earlier editions). Finally, reading this book will help with the quizzes.

There will be several guest lectures by experts in their respective fields. We will also have a few people Skype in to the lecture and you will have the opportunity to ask questions.

This is the schedule of lectures by topic, but not by week.

• Signals and communication: general principles
• Eaves dropping and public information
• Deceptive signalling: mimicry and deimatism (anti-predator displays)
• Visual ecology
• Chemical ecology
• Acoustic communication
• Sexual selection and mating systems
• Sociality and social systems
• Parental care
• Hormones and behaviour
• Behavioural plasticity
• Genetics of behaviour
• Personality
• Anti-predator behaviour; sexual cannibalism
• Cognition
• Behaviour and conservation, animal ethics

This unit explores the fascinating world of animal behaviour, searching out unifying principles that underlie the extreme diversity of behaviour in nature. Why do birds and bees sing and dance? What keeps families together? How do animals find food? How do animals with very different sensory systems find their way about? How has animal behaviour been shaped by evolution and what are the relative roles of natural and sexual selection?

This unit provides insights into sensory processes and decision making. It also reviews major current issues in the study of animal communication while exploring the physiological and neural mechanisms underpinning behaviour, and the function and evolution of natural behaviour. Lectures examine the natural behaviour of diverse animal species, from insects to humans, using instructive examples to illustrate evolution, navigation, foraging, predator–prey interactions, mating systems, mate choice, conflict, communication, and social behaviour. The course also covers theoretical and empirical aspects of animal signalling, modes of communication, the sensory basis of communication, and the evolution of signalling. Practical work involves observing behaviour, hypothesis development, data collection, and analysis.